Breaking News

9 Horror Movies Inspired by Real-Life Events

Mental Floss has compiled a list of nine horror movies that are made even scarier by the fact they’re based on true events. Here they are:

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). The real story: Wes Craven based the film on a series of newspaper articles from the Los Angeles Times about a strange phenomenon where young Asian refugees would mysteriously die in their sleep.

Child’s Play (1988). The real story: This film is based on a story from Key West painter and author Robert Eugene Otto, who claimed one of his family's servants placed a voodoo curse on his childhood toy Robert the Doll.

The Amityville Horror (1979). The real story: The Amityville Horror follows the paranormal events that terrorized the Lutz family in 1975.

Psycho (1960). The real story: Psycho's Norman Bates is loosely based on convicted murderer and grave robber Ed Gein, who killed women and unearthed corpses in Wisconsin during the late ‘50s.

The Exorcist (1973). The real story: The Exorcist's author and screenwriter William Peter Blatty based the novel and film on a 1949 article in The Washington Post headlined, "Priest Frees Mt. Rainier Boy Reported Held in Devil's Grip."

The Girl Next Door (2007). The real story: This film is is based on the murder of Sylvia Likens, a 16-year-old girl from Indiana in 1965.

The Conjuring (2013). The real story: This is based on real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren and their experience with the Perrons, a family that experienced ghostly occurrences at their Rhode Island home in 1971.

Open Water (2003). The real story: This film is based on American tourists Tom and Eileen Lonergan, a couple who were lost at sea when their tour group left them behind while scuba diving near the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 1998.

The Blob (1958). The real story: The Blob is based on a New York Times article from 1950 titled "A ‘Saucer’ Floats to Earth And a Theory Is Dished Up”--in which four Philadelphia police officers came into contact with a strange gooey material, now believed to be "Star Jelly," a transparent gelatinous substance.